Aiden’s busy, fun weekend

On Thursday (June 22nd) we drove up to Scarborough, Maine. The Collie Club of Maine was holding an agility trial at the Wassamki Springs Campground. We went to the trial site and set up our tent. This was to be our base at the trial….we were staying in a hotel not sleeping in a tent!

We took Aiden for a walk around the campground and everyone wanted to meet him, including these two girls.

On Friday morning Aiden’s first class was Premier Standard. He was the only 24″ dog to qualify and therefore placed 1st. Aiden was one of only 4 dogs out of 26 in the whole class to qualify.

His second class was Masters Standard. Aiden had a great run and qualified in 2nd place earning 26 MACH points.

By the time it got to Masters Jumpers in the afternoon the sun was blazing and it was nearly 80 degrees. It was a really nice course for large dogs and Aiden had a great run but unfortunately knocked the first bar on the double jump.

After Aiden’s classes he had fun playing in the water.

Saturday was day 2 of the Collie Club of Maine Agility Trial. This is a 3 day trail but we were only entered for 2 days. The day started out mostly cloudy, warm and very humid.

Aiden’s first class was Masters FAST. For the first time ever Aiden and I got all 80 points. We were one second over the course time therefore 1 point was deducted. Aiden qualified with 79 points and 1st place.

The clouds started to break up and as the sun came out the temperature started to rise. Aiden’s next class was Masters Standard. He had a very nice run but unfortunately one bar came down.

In between classes there was an AKC evaluator on site offering the new AKC Novice Trick Dog Test. Aiden and I decided to try it out! A total of 10 “tricks” are required to earn the Novice Trick Dog Title unless the dog has a CGC. Since Aiden has his CGC he was only required to perform 5 “tricks”. For an agility dog this was fairly easy. Each “trick” had to be performed twice. Aiden had to walk across a balance beam, jump over a low bar, go through a tunnel, touch to hand and do a sit, down and come by hand signals only. Aiden passed and has now earned the Novice Trick Dog Title (TKN).

The temperature continued to rise to 86 degrees. We took Aiden for a much deserved swim.
Aiden’s last run at this trial was Masters Jumpers with Weaves. Aiden had a fantastic, enthusiastic run. He ran the course in 28.37 seconds and all the bars stayed up! He qualified with 2nd place and his 10th Masters JWW Leg earning his Masters JWW Title (MXJ). He also earned 16 MACH Points. This was a nice ending to a very nice trial.

The reason we did not stay for the 3rd day of the agility trial was because Aiden was entered in the new AKC Farm Dog Certified Test hosted by the Pioneer Valley Kennel Club in Whatley, MA. The test is a series of 12 exercises that represent various situations that a dog may encounter in a farm environment. The dog must demonstrate self-control, confidence and obedience when exposed to livestock and other unique sights, sounds and scents that are found on a farm. After the agility trial on Saturday we drove to Deerfield, MA. On Sunday morning we went the test site. There were two tests scheduled, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with two different judges. There were 50 dogs entered for each test. The test was set up both inside and outside. Jack was able to get a few pictures of some of the “exercise stations” but was not able to get close enough to get pictures of everything Aiden had to do in order to pass the test.